


In which Eduardo is Merlin

by bysine



Series: 2014 drabble requests [1]
Category: The Social Network (2010)
Genre: Gen, Merlin Syndrome, living backwards
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-05
Updated: 2014-12-05
Packaged: 2018-02-28 06:45:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2722646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bysine/pseuds/bysine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>And even though Mark had rules about not telling each other what lay ahead, he had told Eduardo this: when things get bad, wait for the day you wake up in Harvard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In which Eduardo is Merlin

**Author's Note:**

> For yay_box!

Eduardo is twenty-two and his back is going. It shouldn't be – for all intents and purposes, he is a young man in a young man's body, sliding from the solidity of his late twenties into a more coltish angularity. So for the lower part of his back to hurt like that when he lies in bed is not something that should be occurring.

It's psychosomatic, he tells himself. His old man's brain sending the message that his body is giving way, even as he continues to slip headlong into adolescence. Each day he awakens with energy building under his skin like a trammeled storm. 

Yet Eduardo aches, burningly and tangibly. He asks one of the trainers at the gym to check his posture and is told that he's got no problems at all. But when he bends to look at what Mark is typing on his laptop, his face just inches from Mark's, the pain throbs dully between his shoulders. 

He's never felt better. He's falling apart. But these are the good years, the best years – he's gathered as much from past conversations with Mark. _Do you remember the algorithm on the window at Kirkland_? Mark had asked him years ago, shortly after the day Eduardo had blinked awake into consciousness, after he had learned words and things and Mark. And even though Mark had rules about not telling each other what lay ahead, he had told Eduardo this: when things get bad, wait for the day you wake up in Harvard. 

 

But it is best, perhaps, to begin somewhere in the middle. Not the exact mid-point, of course, not with that amount of precision. But in terms of places to start from, in Eduardo's life, Singapore might be the most appropriate. 

When people ask Eduardo what Singapore is like he normally tells them, "hot," or "sunny," even though those words are nowhere near describing the blazing heat and humidity. Sometimes they follow that up with, "Just like back home?" and it always takes Eduardo a moment to realise they mean Miami or Sao Paolo. 

"Sort of," is what Eduardo says in reply. He doesn't mention that he's never been to Miami or Sao Paolo. Not yet, at least. 

Eduardo is in Singapore, and so is Mark, looking miserable in a polo t-shirt and cargo shorts as they walk along the waterfront. The night before they had gone on a giant Ferris wheel, and when Eduardo had arrived Mark had given him an incredulous look, like he hadn't expected Eduardo to show up. 

"It's… nice," Mark had said, hand stuffed deep in his pocket as they had looked out at the glimmering city beneath them. "I expected it to look exactly like Hong Kong, but it's nice."

"It's nice?" Eduardo had repeated, beginning to grin wide and friendly at Mark before he'd caught sight of Mark's face, tentatively, carefully guarded. 

Mark forgets. At least, that's how it appears to Eduardo. There had been one day, almost a year ago, when Eduardo had woken up one morning and Mark hadn't been in his apartment. Without thinking, he had reached for his phone and texted, _where did you go?_ only to have Mark reply with, _back to the hotel. And then, where else would I have gone?_

He supposes Mark must have felt like this at the beginning. Eduardo forgetting, disoriented. 

But he's getting ahead of himself here.

"I suppose you want to know why I came here," says Mark. He's tense – more than he's ever been. Like it hurts him to even look at Eduardo. "I came to apologise."

"That's okay –" Eduardo begins to say, and then it hits him. When things get bad, Mark had told him. Before this odd period where Mark had gradually become more tentative and distant. 

Mark is looking at Eduardo oddly now.

Eduardo swallows, and tries to ignore the wave of panic in his chest, at the knowledge that tomorrow will be a worse day for a very long time. 

"I'm sorry," says Mark. 

Eduardo shakes his head, and smiles. And says, "Do you remember the algorithm on the window at Kirkland?"


End file.
